9S passed through the commercial ruins, and entered the forest kingdom. It hadn’t been long since he had been here with 2B. Since their pointless conversation.
“How about this. Once it’s peaceful, let’s go shopping together. I’ll even buy a T-shirt that looks good on you, 2B.”
“A T-shirt?”
“Oh, you don’t want it?”
“No… When that day comes, let’s go.”
“Really?! It’s a promise!”
“Yeah.”
He hadn’t been serious. And 2B probably hadn’t been either. It was just unimaginable for the fighting to end and for it to be peaceful. But he had looked forward, just a little bit, to the possibility of that happening. For humans to come back to Earth and reconstruct the commercial district. For humans and androids to coexist and walk through the city… Just thinking about it made him giddy.
Would 2B get mad if he chose a T-shirt with an awful design? Would she look embarrassed? Or would she…laugh? He wanted to make 2B laugh one day. He wanted to see 2B roll on the ground, laughing her heart out.
But humans would never come back to Earth. And 2B had died. The YoRHa squadron had fallen, and the fighting still continued. Nothing had changed—but then again, everything had changed.
9S shot down a Machine that jumped out to attack with Pod’s artillery. It was a survivor of the forest kingdom.
“Revenge f0r 0ur k1ng…”
Other Machines pounced at him from between the trees. It was A2, not 9S, that had killed their king, but it probably made no difference to them.
“1’ll k1ll y0u!”
He hacked the persistent Machines, and made them explode.
“ ‘I’ll kill you’? That’s my line.”
“Worthless Machines,” he mumbled. Machines taking revenge? It was so absurd it almost made him laugh…
Once he was on high ground, he saw a floating, building-like structure. It was deformed, covered in bulges, and of a gray, leaden color.
“Is that?”
“Affirmative: Believed to be the so-called resource-recovery unit. Unlike the massive structure in the crater zone, it seems to be distributing something.”
“What do you mean something?”
“Hypothesis: A type of resource, but details are unavailable.”
Since it was called the resource recovery unit, if it was collecting and distributing anything other than resources, it would be a misleading name indeed. It was however, possible that what the Machines considered “resources” could be, to androids, nothing but a pile of garbage.
“I wonder what they’re going to use the collected resources for?”
“Unknown.”
He wasn’t really curious, so he didn’t mind if it was unknown. He was going to destroy it anyway.
He remembered that he used to have a fascination with Machines, even though they ended up being just another thing he would destroy. Why had he been so eager to study them? He wasn’t sure, even though the question was about himself.
As he approached the resource recovery unit, an announcement came out of nowhere. It was the same voice he had heard in the crater zone. Indiscernible as a little girl’s or little boy’s voice, it was nevertheless a foolish-sounding voice.
“Hostile android approaching. Switching to self-defense mode.”
The resource recovery unit, which had been erratically moving through the air, suddenly stopped. The bulges on the wall began to loudly change shape. They kept changing shape without an endpoint, as if they were playing around.
On top of that, a part of the shifting wall expanded to reveal an opening that looked something like an entrance. As if it were taunting him to come inside. What self-defense mode? he thought bitterly.
“Are these…patterns? Characters?”
Right above the doorlike opening, there were some symbols inscribed into the wall. They were roughly the same size, distinctly shaped, and evenly spaced.
“Answer: They are characters of angelic script, an ancient alphabet.”
So he had been right when he thought they looked like characters.
“The characters in question spell out the words: ‘meat box.’ ”
“What does that mean?”
“Unknown.”
“I know. There’s no logic behind what they do.”
They fight, kill, and mimic—all irrationally. These words were probably meaninglessly inscribed as well.
When he went inside, his suspicions were further confirmed. There were enemies stationed in various places, but that was the same as the factory ruins and forest kingdom. Arbitrarily placed enemies were defeated to move forward. The androids were asked to repeat the same action every time.
But unlike the factory ruins and forest kingdom, the inside of the meat box was rather clamorous. The attacking Machines kept making hideous noises.
“Reven… Revengee!”
“0w0w0wOw0wOwOw”
“I… d0n’t wanna… d1e”
“1t hurts 1t hurts… hurts… hurt…”
9S kicked over their bodies that were filled with holes from Pod’s artillery.
“How could a Machine be hurting.”
The cylindrical remains rolled down the spiral staircase. That was irritating too.
“1 d0n’t want to d1e d0n’t want to d1e d0n’t want to d1e!”
Every last one of them, thought 9S. Couldn’t they attack more quietly? They weren’t even that strong.
“1’m scared scared scared scared scared”
Shut up. Shut up! Shut up!
9S started to shout, wanting to drown out the meaningless noises. He shouted while fighting, took turns shouting and fighting, and made his way up the floors.
This was what he’d been doing this whole time. Destroying Machines. That was all, but why did he feel so aggravated?
“Shut up! Be quiet! Die!”
Why did he feel so empty? The only difference was whether or not 2B was next to him.
Eventually, as all things come to an end, the fighting inside the structure also ceased. He had reached the roof.
It was painfully bright, perhaps because he had been fighting in dim light. As he squinted and looked around, he saw something being sucked out from the inside of the building and distributed toward the sky.
“Are those…Machine parts?”
Countless metal parts spiraled around like a tornado, rising and disappearing into the sky. They were being distributed toward the crater zone.
“Hypothesis: Resources for the massive structure. Or perhaps resources to create a weapon.”
Collecting the remains of fallen comrades in battle and transporting them to the massive tower in the crater zone;—that was what this facility was used for, if Pod’s hypothesis was correct.
If so, what was the point of leaving the access key in a place like this? Leaving an object that would help destroy the massive structure in a facility made to gather materials to maintain the massive structure. It was contradictory, to say the least.
“Help. Please, help.”
It was the voice of a child. There was a glowing orb on the middle of the roof. The wavering voice was coming from it.
“What’s that?”
“Answer: Core. The entity that controls this facility. In other words, the brains of this facility.”
The voice repeated its pleas for help. The whole time, bits and pieces of Machines were still being dragged out and pulled across the sky.
“Help me… I’m scared… Help…”
They could say whatever they wanted. They were Machines. The words they said were predetermined. It wasn’t like this one was in fear and pleading for its life. It was just playing a prerecorded sound according to its program.
“Energy charged. Close firing mode, full power.”
Pod transformed. 9S pointed at the core. Pod started to say, “9S…” like it was trying to stop him, but 9S ignored it.
“Shoot.”
The white laser emitted by Pod burned through the core. The ground shook. Shock waves passed through the whole resource recovery unit. But the waves passed and it quickly quieted down.
“Report: Obtained the access key from the destroyed core.”
Leaving something necessary to destroy the system in a facility used to maintain the same system—the only reason he could think of for why this contradiction existed was to play with him.
“Worthless Machines,” spat out 9S. He turned around. There were still two remaining resource recovery units. He needed to get to them as soon as possible.